Don’t Become Your Own Worst Enemy During Your Weight Loss Journey

When it comes to weight loss, you are in most of the cases your own worst enemy. Certainly, numerous people on this journey miss their goals by naively sabotaging their own efforts, both by eating or exercising wrong. Sorry to say, when they don’t see the results they want on the scale, they often ditch the attempt altogether.

Do you want to avoid the same fortune? Be sure to stay away from these common mistakes.

Too much, too soon

Many people make the mistake of radically changing their diets. Often, this means to refrain from carbs and sugar cold-turkey, also aggressively cutting down a number of calories they eat. Additionally, they as well tend to be overzealous with their workouts, spending hours each day in the gym.

Although such enthusiasm is surely excellent, the kind of harshness you put yourself under is most likely untenable. The more you deny yourself, the higher the chance that you will “relapse” and binge eats at the first temptation. Keep in mind, weight loss is a marathon, not a sprint. You want to find a system that will be sustainable for you in the long run.

Because of that, you should start slow. Start by dropping your consumption of so-called guilty foods until you phase them out totally.

Going overboard on cheat days

At last, you managed to run an hour straight? Great job on your stamina training! While such a success is absolutely worth celebrating, try not to do it with food. In reality, a lot of people reward themselves way too much during their “cheat” days.

A reward every now and then is more than fine, but the danger with having cheat days is that it’s so simple to go overboard. One slice of cake quickly turns into two, and before you are aware you’ve destroyed the calorie deficit you’ve been working on all week to create.

You work out on a regular basis, but you still cannot lose the surplus pounds? If this sounds like you, you should take a closer look at your calorie ingestion—you may be consuming way more calories that you thought at first.

Actually, let’s do a small experiment: How many calories do you think are in one tablespoon of vegetable oil? If you are like most people, you will almost certainly answer about 50 calories. Well the real answer: 120 calories!

Seeing that, a lot of dieters are frequently unaware of how many calories they’re in fact eating, which is why they frequently overeat without knowing.

You don’t eat enough

Yes, producing a calorie deficit is the goal of all weight loss plans, and it is most frequently accomplished by eating a little less than you are used to. Nonetheless, some people go overboard with their diet and consume only the bare minimum of 1200 calories to speed up the weight loss.

Yes, you may be capable to radically reduce your weight using this strategy, but you will no doubt be miserable the entire time. And what is even more, it’s only efficient up to a certain degree. Depriving your body of calories will cause it to go into starvation mode. Now, your metabolism slows down to a crawl. When this occurs, your body clamps downs on your metabolic rate, so while you may be dieting and eating as healthily as possible, you still won’t drop the pounds.

Not drinking enough water

Hydration is very important to your health in general, and it can even help advance your athletic performance throughout workouts. Nevertheless, not getting enough water can, in addition, make you more probable to snack—and gain weight. This is for the reason that the body often confuses thirst signals for hunger. That’s why you will get cravings even if you just had a full meal. Next time you feel your tummy growling, reach for a glass of water as an alternative to a bag of chips. Water help you feel fuller, and at the same time, it will assist many bodily functions counting nutrient absorption and easing energy expenditure.

You’re only doing cardio

Cardio is an outstanding form of exercise if you want to lose weight. All you need is a good pair of running shoes and good old will power. But you shouldn’t rely on it as your only form of physical activity—when you’re down to your last 5-10 pounds, cardio won’t be able to help you anymore.

If you actually want to get that fit body you are longing for, consider combining cardio with some weight training. Lifting weights raise your body’s muscle mass and muscles turn out to be very metabolically active, meaning they need more calories to maintain. In fact, the more muscles you have, the faster your metabolism will be.

The most vital part of any weight loss program is the beginning. But if you are not cautious, it’s very easy to lose your way. Optimistically, the tips and tricks above will keep you on the right track until you lastly meet your ultimate goal.